Tag: Communism

Posted on May 30th, by admin in Books. Comments Off on The Leipzig Affair

“You stare at the photograph. You wonder if you recognise the girl in the picture. Yes and no.”

“A gripping, complex debut” Zoë Strachan

“Will resonate loud and clear with anyone conscious of the dangers of CCTV culture in modern Britain” Rodge Glass

“Kept me hooked right to the end” Linda Leatherbarrow

“A story of betrayal only partly redeemed by love, by an author who hauntingly evokes the milieu” Jonathan Falla

The year is 1985. East Germany is in the grip of communism. Magda, a brilliant but disillusioned young linguist, is desperate to flee to the West. When a black market deal brings her into contact with Robert, a young Scot studying at Leipzig University, she sees a way to realise her escape plans. But as Robert falls in love with her, he stumbles into a complex world of shifting half-truths – one that will undo them both.

Posted on October 9th, by admin in Books. Comments Off on Let’s Pretend

Fiona’s story ‘One hundred flowers’ appears in the short story collection Let’s Pretend.

I used dollars my family had sent to buy coffee and chocolate from the Friendship Store, and we had a celebration. Grandma Gao spat the coffee out, but she patted me on the arm as she pottered off on her tiny ruined feet to squat by the door and smoke the Kent cigarettes I’d given her. It was an acceptance of sorts.

From the Glasgow University Masters course in Creative Writing comes this collection of brand new writing from some of the most exciting and fresh talents around. Thirty-seven writers have taken (in)fidelity as a theme to offer up 37 remarkable short stories.

“[These] stories form as strong a collection as I’ve read in a decade or more. Wit and wistfulness, black skies and blue, laughter and tragedy all are on display here.” Ian Rankin